Official 343i Cosplay Guide: The Rookie

[Cadet]

343 Industries has released thier first official "Cosplay Guide," and it is for Halo: ODST's The Rookie.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection - Official Cosplay Guide: The Rookie

Today, we're happy to release our first official cosplay guide to help support this community of talented creators. With Halo 3: ODST joining Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and ODST armor being a more approachable starting point than a full suit of Mjolnir, we decided to focus this first...

www.halowaypoint.com

To download the official cosplay guide for the Rookie you can use the links below:
Desktop:

https://content.halocdn.com/media/Default/community/CosplayGuides/h3odst_cosplayguide_rookie_full-cf711784cefd46f1942179552d484811.pdf

Mobile:

https://content.halocdn.com/media/Default/community/CosplayGuides/h3odst_cosplayguide_rookie_mobile-3205b69a031a4a4f9ced2dee4dff173a.pdf

 

[PerniciousDuke]

RandomRanger can you link this thread, or the waypoint URL in your Reference Index?

Maybe all cap OFFICIAL in the title like:

OFFICIAL Rookie ODST Armor: Reference Thread _____ by 343 Industries

 

[RandomRanger]

RandomRanger can you link this thread, or the waypoint URL in your Reference Index?

Maybe all cap OFFICIAL in the title like:

OFFICIAL Rookie ODST Armor: Reference Thread _____ by 343 Industries

Can do, that's a good idea.

 

[FalseShepherd]

So, the reference guide lists the thigh armor as part of the tech suit... Does that mean there's no hard thigh armor on the ODST? How does the information in the cosplay reference guide effect tier status for a completed suit?

 

[Cadet]

The image of Slide 4 which lists the recommended materials for the "Tech Suit" to me shows not the outer armor, but focuses more on the inner ribbed or padded section of the thigh armor, which we have always accepted as either rigged or flexible or attached to the undersuit and not the outer hard armor.

Unless you referring to slides 12-18 being labeled as "Combat Suit?" Those same slides also have other items like the the Shins, Forearm, and boots present. As such, I feel that is simply more along the lines of those are 343i's wording for the break down, or models. Like, all things show on those slides were on the "Combat Suit" in game model, and the other items were model separately and attached to/separate layers or models, in game. Otherwise, by your reasoning, there is also no hard armor on the shin or forearms. Since additionally the thigh area bears the weight of additional items like grenades, ammo pouches, buckles, and clips, it would seem they were intended to be at least some form of rigid. Slide 48 for the thigh pouches even does state "The thigh packs are directly attached to the armor," and combined with slide 48, seems to indicate at least the middle of the outer thigh is considered "Armor" and as such rigid.

However, at the end of the day, the idea has always been to replicate the appearance or the look of the in game costume, not the exact materials used, or in this case now that know, intended to be used. We will continue to accept hard armor outer thighs for Tier 3, and will now consider more flexible material for all but the outer thigh "mounting plate" explicitly referred to as "Armor" in the guide, as long as the costume looks like it "Stepped out of the game."

If anything this guide will just raise the bar on other visible areas of the under suit/tech suit. (We can only grade what we can see, and if a part is covered by another piece we don't expect it to there, like SPARATNs who only have the Tech Suit details on the exposed areas, we don't look for it, but if it is there, that is a definite plus.)

 

[FalseShepherd]

The image of Slide 4 which lists the recommended materials for the "Tech Suit" to me shows not the outer armor, but focuses more on the inner ribbed or padded section of the thigh armor, which we have always accepted as either rigged or flexible or attached to the undersuit and not the outer hard armor.

Unless you referring to slides 12-18 being labeled as "Combat Suit?" Those same slides also have other items like the the Shins, Forearm, and boots present. As such, I feel that is simply more along the lines of those are 343i's wording for the break down, or models. Like, all things show on those slides were on the "Combat Suit" in game model, and the other items were model separately and attached to/separate layers or models, in game. Otherwise, by your reasoning, there is also no hard armor on the shin or forearms. Since additionally the thigh area bears the weight of additional items like grenades, ammo pouches, buckles, and clips, it would seem they were intended to be at least some form of rigid. Slide 48 for the thigh pouches even does state "The thigh packs are directly attached to the armor," and combined with slide 48, seems to indicate at least the middle of the outer thigh is considered "Armor" and as such rigid.

However, at the end of the day, the idea has always been to replicate the appearance or the look of the in game costume, not the exact materials used, or in this case now that know, intended to be used. We will continue to accept hard armor outer thighs for Tier 3, and will now consider more flexible material for all but the outer thigh "mounting plate" explicitly referred to as "Armor" in the guide, as long as the costume looks like it "Stepped out of the game."

If anything this guide will just raise the bar on other visible areas of the under suit/tech suit. (We can only grade what we can see, and if a part is covered by another piece we don't expect it to there, like SPARATNs who only have the Tech Suit details on the exposed areas, we don't look for it, but if it is there, that is a definite plus.)

Makes sense. I was just confused I got a similar impression from the forearms section that they were at least partially part of the tech suit rather than hard gauntlets but it seemed odd. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[NetherCraft]

I mean, this is really considerate of 343i, but it seems a little late to me. What would have been super cool is if they made a high poly version of the model for better reference, instead of trying to determine the shape from textured detail. I just don't see the application of this guide with the 3d models used being freely and widely available.

 

[TurboCharizard]

I mean, this is really considerate of 343i, but it seems a little late to me. What would have been super cool is if they made a high poly version of the model for better reference, instead of trying to determine the shape from textured detail. I just don't see the application of this guide with the 3d models used being freely and widely available.

As someone staring down two ODST suits to build having the exact colours as well as descriptions of textures of the base suit in the exploded views is extremely helpful from the standpoint of rigging hard armour and designing the different layers. The added marginalia and notes are also amazing for figuring out certain things like the fact that there's a hinge in the shoulder armour and hidden pads within the spinal guard.

 

[he4thbar]

I mean, this is really considerate of 343i, but it seems a little late to me. What would have been super cool is if they made a high poly version of the model for better reference, instead of trying to determine the shape from textured detail. I just don't see the application of this guide with the 3d models used being freely and widely available.

This was more or less a community choice as you can see here: How can 343 help?
reference photos can be a god send for colors and details

 

[PerniciousDuke]

NetherCraft I agree with Turbo. The color pallet alone is a godsend. Did you know ODSTs were green and not black? Yeah, it's a little late but better late then never.. I also love the shots of the pouches with the rest of the armor dulled out. I could zoom in on the pouches from an ingame model, but having then isolated like this helps me focus on what I need to recreate it. TurboCharizard there's also a pillow behind their butt plate for naps. lol

 

[NetherCraft]

NetherCraft I agree with Turbo. The color pallet alone is a godsend. Did you know ODSTs were green and not black? Yeah, it's a little late but better late then never.. I also love the shots of the pouches with the rest of the armor dulled out. I could zoom in on the pouches from an ingame model, but having then isolated like this helps me focus on what I need to recreate it. TurboCharizard there's also a pillow behind their butt plate for naps. lol

Yeah, I have to admit I was a little bit negative. I have been doing a lot of model extraction and spend a lot of time looking at references for modeling, so my perspective is a little detached from most. Anyways if anyone wants exact closeups and stuff like that I probably have some of the alpha nine boys lying around on my HD. One thing I'm interested in is the ODST armor on the game cover/soundtrack cover, the armor has several key differences from the one in game.